After seeing his Western Michigan University hockey team lose 4-2 to complete the Central Collegiate Hockey Association series sweep by Michigan State University, the Broncos’ coach had to find a way to ease the pain.

The Broncos (6-3-3, 4-3-1 CCHA) outshot the Spartans (6-4, 3-3 CCHA) for the second night in a row (30-23), but seemed to be pressing too much after an early MSU goal.

“I’ve been around this sport a lot,” Murray said. “When you win, there’s a book of winning. You take it out and I could answer all the things that are in the book of winning: ‘We played as a team. We competed. We battled. We were disciplined. We were good with the puck.’

“The book of losing, I could pull it out and say, ‘We were pressing too much. We were too tight. We let the fans get to us,’ all the different things. It’s sitting down and ultimately we have to be better as coaches and individual players and raise our level for the next game. We simply have to be better.”

Western Michigan has trailed after every period during its three-game losing streak.

The Broncos have fallen from second place to fifth place in the CCHA standings after the weekend.

The Spartans got their first goal in similar fashion to their first score in Friday’s contest.

A strong forecheck allowed the Spartans to get the puck in WMU’s zone and after an initial shot, Mike Merrifield put in a rebound 3:55 into the contest.

Western Michigan controlled the action for the final 10 minutes of the first period and had a 12-9 shot advantage by the first intermission, but didn’t have a goal to show for it.

“We have to manage the puck better,” Murray said. “You get what you deserve and we have to recognize Michigan State for playing hard and we have to be better.”

The Broncos were last swept in a series by Michigan on Feb. 18-19 last season.

The Broncos really picked up the pace in the second period, which led to a breakout and resulted in Derek Roehl firing in a shot 14:49 into the period to tie the score.

Roehl said after the game there was no denying WMU was offensively out of rhythm during stretches in both games against Michigan State.

Derek Roehl

“It’s pretty obvious when we’re going and when everyone is playing their role we’re generating a lot of offense and we’re scoring,” the senior forward said. “There are just some mistakes that we made that we have to correct.”

Both teams made it known during the second period how important they felt the three standings points were as attitudes became chippy and the action got physical during play and after the whistle.

A large pushing-and-shoving match broke out after Roehl’s goal along the wall behind MSU’s net and the rest of the game was played with a more physical tone.

Torey Krug scored the next two goals to put Michigan State ahead 3-1 midway through the third period.

Krug’s first goal came during a MSU 5-on-3 power play. His initial shot was blocked by WMU’s Ian Slater, but the puck slid right back to him and he fired it in 2:54 into the third period.

Krug fired in a shot from about 30 feet away that got past WMU goalie Nick Pisellini 7:57 into the period.

WMU found an answer just over a minute later.

Justin Kovacs dug the puck out of the boards behind MSU’s goal and sent it to the front of the net to Kyle O’Kane, who buried the shot to bring WMU within a goal, 3-2, 9:24 into the third.

Merrifield added MSU’s insurance goal 12:26 into the final frame on a rush after the Spartans took the puck in the neutral zone.

Western Michigan has been outscored 12-6 during its three-game skid, but Murray said the only medicine is to get back to work right away, as the Broncos travel Tuesday to face Notre Dame, which swept visiting Alaska-Fairbanks this weekend.

“I think you face adversity every single time you step on the ice,” Murray said. “We’ll come tomorrow and prepare to play Notre Dame. That’s our objective right now.

“The heads are hanging a little bit low right now. They should be deservedly so, but tomorrow you get the heads up and come to work and put the skates on and we’ll practice and prepare to go to Notre Dame to play another great team.”

Pisellini made 19 stops for WMU, which finished 0-for-3 on the power play.

Will Yanakeff again had a solid night in goal for MSU and made 28 stops.